Asia's Woes, Own Success
May Threaten Sony's Status

By

David P. Hamilton Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated Nov. 21, 1997 12:01 a.m. ET

Sony Corp., having staged an impressive recovery from its stagnation of the mid-1990s, is again one of the most widely admired corporations in Japan. But at least one Sony watcher in Tokyo is starting to worry that the Asian currency crisis -- and Sony's own success -- may soon turn against it.

Judging solely by Sony's performance to date, the company would seem to have little to fear. Driven by soaring demand for its consumer-electronics goods and personal-computer peripherals, pretax profit soared 85% in the six months...